A multifunctional L-arginine-linked melanin Nanozyme for Theranostic applications in liver fibrosis: Non-invasive dual-modal imaging and reactive oxygen species scavenging for Pyroptosis suppression.

Liver fibrosis, a pivotal pathological stage in the progression of chronic liver diseases to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma is characterized by liver sinusoidal endothelial cell (LSEC) capillarization, oxidative stress imbalance, and cell pyroptosis. Current clinical interventions show limited efficacy in reversing fibrosis, highlighting the urgent need for novel therapeutic strategies. In this study, we developed an L-arginine-loaded melanin-like nanozyme (L-Arg@MeNPs) that targets liver fibrosis through a triple-action mechanism: (1) sustained nitric oxiderelease from L-Arg restores LSEC fenestration, improving sinusoidal permeability; (2) the MeNPs exhibit catalase/superoxide dismutase-mimicking activity to scavenge reactive oxygen species, thereby blocking the NOD-like receptor pyrin domain-containing 3/caspase-1-mediated pyroptosis pathway; and (3) intrinsic photoacoustic/magnetic resonance dual-modal imaging enables real-time therapeutic monitoring.

Synergistic modification of chestnut powder via Lactobacillus plantarum and pullulanase: Promotion of resistant starch formation and structural-functional enhancement.

Chestnut (Castanea mollissima Blume) is a nutritionally dense food, notably rich in starch, making it an important natural source of carbohydrates and energy for human diets. However, its high content of rapidly digestible starch (RDS) limits its use in low-glycemic-index (GI) food products. This study developed a synergistic bioprocess combining Lactobacillus plantarum fermentation and pullulanase-catalyzed debranching to enhance the nutritional and structural characteristics of chestnut powder.

Engineered Substrate-Free Small Molecules for Enhanced Raman Scattering and Photothermal Conversion Efficiency.

Raman spectroscopy with surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) through metal substrates is a highly precise bioimaging technique. Alternatively, recently discovered small molecules to enhance the Raman signal intensities through their self-stacking, termed stacking-induced intermolecular charge transfer-enhanced Raman scattering (SICTERS), offer ultrasensitive in vivo Raman imaging free of substrates. Molecular engineering to increase the SICTERS intensity and to tune photothermal conversion efficiency of these molecules is critical for furthering their biomedical application but not yet feasible.

Effects of silencing or overexpression of ZIP3 and ZIP5 on zinc absorption as zinc sulfate or zinc proteinate and related gene expressions in primary duodenal epithelial cells of broilers.

Three Experiments were conducted to explore whether zrt/irt-like protein 3 (ZIP3) and ZIP5 were directly involved in zinc (Zn) absorption as Zn proteinate with moderate chelation strength (ZnP M) in broiler primary duodenal epithelial cells. In Experiment 1, siRNAs against ZIP3 or ZIP5 were transfected into cells, and the most effective siRNA was selected. In Experiment 2, with or without the most potent siRNA, cells were exposed to a basal medium without Zn (Control) or added with 400 umol/L of Zn as Zn sulfate (ZnS) or ZnP M for 120 min.

The PP2A-2 holoenzyme orchestrates daughter cell emergence during cytokinesis in Toxoplasma gondii.

Toxoplasma gondii is a significant pathogen in both humans and animals, with disease progression driven by the rapid proliferation of its tachyzoite stage. In this study, we identify the PP2A-2 holoenzyme as a key regulator of daughter cell emergence during parasite division. This holoenzyme, likely composed of the regulatory subunit TgPR48 (PP2A-B2), the catalytic subunit PP2A-C2, and the scaffolding subunit PP2A-A2, is essential for proper cytokinesis.

Development Strategies for Influenza Vaccines Utilizing Phage RNA Polymerase and Capping Enzyme NP868R.

Influenza remains a highly contagious respiratory disease with profound global health and economic implications. Although traditional vaccines, including inactivated influenza vaccines (IIVs), live attenuated influenza vaccines (LAIVs), and recombinant subunit influenza vaccines (RIVs), are widely available, their efficacy against emerging viral strains is often limited. This limitation underscores the urgent need for novel vaccine strategies.

Podoplanin-TGF-β1 Autocrine Loop: Pivotal Regulator of Islet Stellate Cell Activation via Cell Deformation, Orchestrating Islet Fibrosis in Diabetes.

The activation of islet stellate cells (ISCs) plays an important role in islet fibrosis, which leads to impaired islet function. While our previous work showed that the expression of the Pdpn gene was significantly increased in activated ISCs, it remains unknown whether Pdpn is responsible for islet fibrosis. This study was aimed at elucidating its function on islet fibrosis, along with the exploration of the underlying mechanisms.

Reduced IL-17A levels in neonates born to mothers with diabetes mellitus or infection during pregnancy.

Background/objectives: Pregnancy complications are associated with adverse maternal-neonatal outcomes, but the underlying immune mechanisms remain unclear. Here we examined umbilical cord IL-17A levels and their link to gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and perinatal infections (PIs).

Methods: This two-phase study analyzed 87 pregnant women (38 in the exploratory phase and 49 in the validation phase) from Shenzhen's Premature Infants Gut Microbiota Assembly and Neurodevelopment (PIGMAN) cohort, divided into perinatal complication (PC) (45 cases) and non-perinatal complication (NPC) (42 cases) groups.

Enzyme-instructed disassembly of phosphorylated temporin supramolecules enhances doxorubicin synergy for targeted cancer inhibition.

Enzyme-instructed self-assembly has emerged as a powerful tool to engineer selective functional materials. However, its reverse process, enzyme-instructed disassembly, has been largely overlooked despite its critical implications in pharmaceutical research. This study introduces a new approach employing enzyme-instructed peptide disassembly to selectively inhibit cancer cells.

A novel Toxoplasma gondii thioredoxin (TgTrx1) is important for parasite fitness and virulence.

The protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii relies on antioxidant proteins and systems to protect against the host's immune responses and to neutralize free radicals produced by its own metabolism. In this study, we identified and characterized a new thioredoxin protein, TgTrx1, which is mainly found in the cytoplasm of T. gondii tachyzoites and contains a conserved -CXXC- catalytic motif.

Recent Advance in Electrochemical Chiral Recognition Based on Biomaterials (2019-2024).

Chirality is a prevalent characteristic of natural systems that plays a significant role in the biological activities of living organisms, and the enantiomers typically exhibit different pharmacological activities. Consequently, developing methods with high selectivity and sensitivity for chiral analysis is of great importance for pharmaceutical engineering, biomedicine, and food safety. Electrochemical chiral recognition has garnered significant attention owing to its unique advantages, including simplicity of operation, rapid response, and cost-effectiveness.

Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) integrating quality indicators for risk assessment of the total testing process in human papillomavirus genotyping testing: a proactive risk analysis model for molecular diagnostics.

Objectives: To develop a proactive risk assessment model for human papillomavirus (HPV) genotyping testing by integrating Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) with quality indicators (QIs), ensuring compliance with ISO 15189:2022 and improving diagnostic accuracy.

Methods: A multidisciplinary team designed and performed detailed FMEA across pre-analytical, analytical, and post-analytical phases of HPV genotyping testing. To improve objectivity, we integrated Sigma metrics into the FMEA framework through a molecular diagnostics-specific model of QIs (MQI).

Land availability and policy commitments limit global climate mitigation from forestation.

Forestation (afforestation and reforestation) could mitigate climate change by sequestering carbon within biomass and soils. However, global mitigation from forestation remains uncertain owing to varying estimates of carbon sequestration rates (notably in soil) and land availability. In this study, we developed global maps of soil carbon change that reveal carbon gains and losses with forestation, primarily in the topsoil.

A capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for detection of mosquito salivary protein-specific immunoglobulin E.

Mosquito saliva contains numerous distinct mosquito salivary proteins (MSPs) that mediate mosquito-host interactions. Repeated mosquito exposure can trigger allergic reactions, with MSP-specific IgE playing a central role. Current enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and immunoblotting methods for detecting MSP-specific IgE suffer from interference by much more abundant MSP-specific IgG, leading to low sensitivity.

Exercise promotes neurological recovery by enhancing neuroplasticity and the spinal cord compensation in stroke-affected rats.

Purpose Of The Research: This study aimed to explore the effects of exercise on sensorimotor recovery after stroke, neuroplasticity changes in the brain and spinal cord, and spinal cord compensation mechanisms.

Methods: A rat model of ischemic stroke was induced using the middle cerebral artery occlusion/reperfusion method. A T10 spinal cord injury (SCI) model was induced using a modified Allen procedure.

Topological prethermal strong zero modes on superconducting processors.

Symmetry-protected topological phases cannot be described by any local order parameter and are beyond the conventional symmetry-breaking model. They are characterized by topological boundary modes that remain stable under symmetry respecting perturbations. In clean, gapped systems without disorder, the stability of these edge modes is restricted to the zero-temperature manifold; at finite temperatures, interactions with mobile thermal excitations lead to their decay.

TiN-Based Photothermal Fabric with a Superhydrophobic Surface for Synergistic Anti-/Deicing.

Superhydrophobic surfaces can delay icing to a certain extent, but under severe conditions, such as extremely low temperatures and high humidity, ice buildup on their surfaces can still occur. Therefore, in this study, a titanium-based photothermal anti-/deicing fabric with a superhydrophobic surface was introduced, which was impregnated with hydrophobic SiO-TiO Janus particles (H-SiO-TiO JPs) and the silicone elastomer polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) to endow it with superhydrophobic and photocatalytic properties, and then, titanium nitride nanoparticles (TiN NPs) were deposited on the surface of the cotton fabric to provide it with photothermal properties. A TiN-coated superhydrophobic cotton fabric (TiN-SCF) integrating self-cleaning, photothermal conversion, and photocatalysis was successfully prepared.

Extrachromosomal circular DNA drives ferroptosis and immunity in trophoblasts via the STING pathway in preeclampsia.

Background: Preeclampsia (PE) is a pregnancy-specific disorder characterized by placental dysfunction, immune activation, and oxidative stress. Extrachromosomal circular DNA (eccDNA), a class of circular DNA fragments that exist outside the chromosomes, has been implicated in cancer, aging, and inflammation, but its role in PE remains poorly understood.

Methods: EccDNA abundance was quantified in placental tissues from PE and control pregnancies and correlated with clinical parameters.

Organic materials input promotes the soil aggregate sequestration through changing soil aggregates structure and stability.

The strategic application of organic amendments presents a transformative approach for enhancing agroecosystem sustainability by modulating soil hydrostructural dynamics and carbon sequestration. However, changes in soil moisture, nutrients, aggregate stability, and SOC sequestration under different organic materials type input in farmland of arid northwest China remain uncertain. In this study, an experiment with five treatments (CK: control, LB: smashed leaves and branches, CS: smashed corn stalks, HV: green fertilizer, MS: waste mushroom bran) input applied into the soil.

circRNA-79530 regulates Twist-mediated mitochondrial damage ponging miR-214 affecting hypoxia/reoxygenation-induced injury in H9c2 cardiomyocytes.

Cardiomyocyte injury related to hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R) is pivotal in myocardial infarction. The circular RNA circRNA-79530 (circ79530) may play a regulatory role in this process, though its exact function has yet to be elucidated. This research explores the role of circRNA-79530 in H9c2 cells under H/R, with a particular focus on its interactions with miR-214 and the transcription factor Twist.

Convolutional autoencoder network lithology recognition based on scratch tests.

To address the characteristic of frequent lithological alternations in the continental shale of the Songliao Basin in China and meet the refined requirements of reservoir modeling, it is necessary to establish a higher-precision lithology identification method. This study conducted scratch tests on shale reservoir cores from the 2360m-2409m interval of the Qingshankou Formation in the Songliao Basin, Jilin, obtaining nine mechanical characteristic parameters, including hardness, compressive strength, and Poisson's ratio. By integrating convolutional neural network (CNN) and auto-encode network (AE), a novel lithology identification method based on scratch data was proposed.

Xian Huang Fang Inhibits the PKCδ/MAPK Signaling Pathway to Attenuate Renal Tubular Epithelial Cell Senescence and Thereby Delay Renal Interstitial Fibrosis.

Background: The Chinese herbal medicine compound Xian Huang Fang (XHF) protects renal function and delays the progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD). Currently, XHF has been found to alleviate renal interstitial fibrosis, but the specific mechanism is still unclear, and its underlying molecular mechanism needs to be further elucidated.

Purpose: The objective of this study was to investigate the protective effects of XHF against renal fibrosis and the underlying mechanisms.

Diterpenoid alkaloids from .

Four new diterpenoid alkaloids, namely liaotungenses A-D, along with twenty known constituents, were isolated from the roots of Nakai (Ranunculaceae). Liaotungensines A and B are rare franchetine-type C-diterpenoid alkaloids characterized by their unique dual hydroxylation pattern at C-13 and C-15. Liaotungense D is identified as the third documented example of 8,15-seco diterpenoid alkaloids in this structural class.

Phytophthora Avr3a-Like Effectors Target and Inhibit Cinnamyl Alcohol Dehydrogenase CAD5 to Suppress Plant Immunity.

Phytophthora species are oomycetes that cause significant losses in agricultural production and damages to natural ecosystems. Phytophthora pathogens secrete numerous cytoplasmic effectors that target distinct cellular components to suppress host immunity and facilitate pathogen colonisation. The identification of their host targets is crucial for deciphering the mechanisms they employ to modulate host immunity.